Chairman of the Board of Directors of IMIDRO (Iranian Mines & Mining
Industries Development & Renovation Organization), said at a meeting on
monitoring steelmaking plans in the country, that the launch and development
of semi-finished projects have been implemented with an approach of
convergence and synergy both by the government and the private sector.

Dr. Mehdi Karbasian, speaking at a meeting with the private sector company
directors in the steel chain, said: “The launch of semi-finished mining and
mineral sector projects since the beginning of the eleventh (Hassan Rouhani)
government has been a major step in balancing the steel chain and shifting
the country towards reducing crude sale in this sector.”

He stipulated, “Launching projects and boosting production capacities
promise that we are one step closer to relying on ourselves and the
development of the steel chain from the mines to the downstream products is
one of the pivots of the Resistance Economy.”

He added that the use of domestic resources, the growth of production and
the creation of jobs are the effects of this great national movement and
wealth generation in the country. Also, balanced development, elimination of
deprivation and improvement of the quality of local communities are the
result of these actions, he noted.

The IMIDRO CEO said that the supply of concentrates was of interest to steel
companies, adding that Khouzestan Steel Company bought the concentrate
project of the National Development Company in order to complete the steel
chain, while it had no feedstock backing before the purchase.
A report on the status of the projects was also presented at the meeting.
According to the report, the pelletizing project of Omid Noor Qaem Technical
Development Steel Company with a production capacity of 600,000 tons, has
made 81.67% progress and is expected to be operational by the end of the
current Iranian calendar year (March 2019).

Also, Rasht Khar Steel Company with a capacity of 1.2 million tons of
pellets has made a physical progress of 31.1 percent. Due to the problems it
faces, the project will be operational early in the summer.
The report also said that the plan for the production of mineral resources
in the Sharq Foolad (Steel) Company of Khorasan with a production capacity
of 2.5 million tons of concentrates has recorded a physical progress of
19.41 percent, and the plan of the National Industrial & Mining Development
Company with a capacity of 2.5 million tons of pellets has made a progress
of 86.33 percent and will be commissioned by the end of the calendar year
(March 2019).

Foolad Sharq Kaveh Steel Company project with a capacity of 2.5 million tons
has made a physical progress of 45.61 percent, and Kaveh Pars Mining
Industries Development Company project with a capacity of 2.6 million tons
of pellets, has already recorded 11 percent of physical progress.

Torbat Heydarieh Steel Complex also has made a physical progress of 22.26%
in sponge iron, melting and rolling sheets, and in infrastructure,
engineering, logistics, building, installation and commissioning.